1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to articles and systems of articles, primarily appliances and storage/organizing devices, that are designed to mount under downwardly facing surfaces such as, but not limited to, cabinets and shelves, such as those found in kitchens, workshops, offices, hospitals, utility rooms, storage rooms, laundry rooms or industrial/fabrication facilities.
2. Prior Art
Functional, flexible, accessible work and storage area is needed in virtually all home, office, shop and industrial environments. The size of this usable work and storage area can be substantially augmented by firmly and securely mounting articles such as appliances (e.g., can openers, bookholders, flat panel video displays) and organizing/storage vessels (e.g., spice racks, first aid kits, knife drawers, tool boxes) onto downwardly facing surfaces, such as underneath cabinets or shelves.
Prior art that have sought to make use of the space under downwardly facing surfaces (primarily cabinet bottoms) falls into two major categories.
The first category accounts for the majority of prior art where each invention provides functionality for a specialized purpose, such as an under-cabinet bookholder, can opener or spice rack. Those mentioned below are designed to fold up under a cabinet bottom to take up less space when not in use and pull down again when access and use is required. Specific examples of these inventions include: Document Display Shelf Apparatus (U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,634-Webb-Aug. 20, 2003), Book-holder (U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,145-Ando-Jul. 17, 1984), Disappearing Bookholder (U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,948-Krauss-Jan. 25, 1983), Book-holding Apparatus for Kitchen Type Cabinet (U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,725-Spangler-Jan. 22, 1980), Bookholder (U.S. Pat. No. 2,599,416-Saecker-Jun. 3, 1952), Bookholder for Cabinets (U.S. Pat. No. 2,254,832-Weight-Sep. 2, 1941), Accessory Drawer (U.S. Pat. No. 2,492,697-Higley-Jan. 8, 1947) Hidden Storage Shelf (U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,544-Beckerman-Dec. 23, 1969), Space-saving Undercabinet Spice Jar Drawer (U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,272-Thompson-Sep. 14, 1993), Knife Drawer Unit (U.S. Pat. No. 2,839,349-Culver-Jun. 17, 1958).
These inventions are designed to be mounted in a stationary location and remain in one place fixed under a cabinet and above a work surface. In other words they cannot be moved easily once installed. It follows that these articles also cannot easily be removed for servicing, adjustment and/or cleaning. Virtually all require tools and some requiring partial dismantling to do so. To install them requires planning, careful measurement and the use of tools, including some specialized cutting and fitting.
The methods for mounting and removing these articles are different for each (i.e., they are nonstandard). Many have inherently weak or unstable mountings due to the small footing areas they span or due to their dependence on only a comparatively thin bottom panel of the cabinet for stability.
To install or remove articles, users must expend considerable effort bending and twisting to properly orient themselves and their tools in order to see the article and installation area underneath the downwardly facing surface.
In use (when deployed/pulled-down) many of these prior art are inconveniently oriented with respect to the user and their intended use and lack the adjustability to remedy the situation. In only a few cases do the articles have some limited means to adjust their position for easier use and/or access by the user.
In cases where the articles are designed to fold up under a downwardly facing surface, once adjusted, folded up, then pulled down again, none are designed to return to their previous user-adjusted position. The user must readjust the unit each time for optimum positioning. Also in the case where the articles are designed to fold up under a downwardly facing surface, some have to be swung through a potentially active work area to do so.
Most are designed to have their front surface flush with the facing plain of the cabinet. As such, they are not design to completely disappear under a recessed-bottom cabinet and therefore all are either visually conspicuous or require their outwardly facing components to be matched with existing cabinetry. Aligning and fitting the facing surfaces of these articles with the great variety of cabinet designs, dimensions and specifically, recessed-bottom depths makes installation even more complex.
Items wider than these units themselves cannot be folded up into the units (e.g., a wide book in a narrow bookholder) since such wide items would interfere with the folding mechanisms and/or support framing.
None provide a means for easily (i.e., by hand, without tools) moving and remounting the article along the length of the downwardly facing surface (e.g., a cabinet bottom) and it follows that none of these articles can be moved in this way while in use.
Since each has its own means of permanent mounting, none of these specialized articles are designed to be interchangeable (i.e., swapped) with one and other. Due to their differences in design approach and a lack of common parts, very little manufacturing, development, user training and marketing efficiencies (cost savings) can be realized within these inventions.
A second, smaller group of inventions attempts address the issue of mounting articles under a downwardly facing surface with a standardized approach that can be used for a variety of articles. These inventions have many significant limitations including their instability, lack of a pull-down/fold-up capability, difficult and inflexible installation, significant limitations on lateral positioning of items and their cumbersome and inflexible means of mounting, moving, and removing articles.
These systems also do not employ any common/standard means of power delivery where electric power is required for a specific article (e.g., flat panel video screen).
A System for Mounting Articles Under a Downwardly Facing Surface (U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,764-Bellin-Feb. 28, 1989) employs one or, optionally for heavier objects, two tracks that attach to a downwardly facing surface and provide evenly-spaced cutout slots which can receive standard brackets in which articles can be hung. Each track must be attached via a single line of screws/fasteners to a cabinet bottom thus the strength of the cabinet bottom and the straight-line configuration of the screws limit the strength and (torquing) stability of the system. In the case of recessed bottom cabinets, there is no opportunity to stabilize the track(s) on the cabinet's descending side front or back panels.
The tracks do not expand lengthwise to fit the mounting surface therefore they would have to be cut to size to fit under the cabinet. As such installation requires measuring and cutting or standard lengths of track must be made available to the user. If provided in standard lengths, it is likely these standard lengths would not fully utilize the potential mounting space in most cases.
Also articles can be attached to the track only at discreet intervals as dictated by the cutout slots. The width of the articles installed should also fall loosely within the same discreet intervals to ensure a proper fit within the mounting brackets. Articles also must remain in the same position when not in use and cannot be folded up out of sight and out of the way of a potential work area.
In order to change the position of an article, the article must be dismounted using screwdriver or thumbscrews/wing nuts and remounted in another set of slots. This not only requires a good deal of effort but also in many cases requires that the article be at least partially dismantled and taken out of use to be removed or moved. Height, tilt, protrusion are not adjustable by any means in this system.
An Under-the-cabinet Appliance Having a Unitary Mounting Bracket and Method for Assembling the Same (U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,440-Garber-Oct. 14, 1997) provides a standard under-cabinet bracket for mounting appliances such as can openers and coffee makers. This system requires that the appliances be manufactured to fit the specific bracket design. The bracket is installed using tools in one place under a cabinet and the system makes no provisions for lateral adjustment/moving of appliances along the bottom of the cabinet. There is also no facility for folding the appliance up out of the way when not in use, no standard means of power delivery, and no way for users to adjust the appliances height, tilt and protrusion relative to the cabinet and themselves.
Similarly, Small Appliance Modular Hanger System (U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,754 B1-Melito-Jan. 29, 2002) provides a standard under-cabinet bracket more adjustable and therefore more adaptable to mounting appliances of differing dimensions than the prior example, but the system requires tools to install and adjust an appliance. Once installed the appliance is Fixed in one place under a cabinet and the system makes no provisions for lateral adjustment/moving of appliances along the bottom of the cabinet. Again, there is also no facility for folding the appliance up out of the way when not in use, no standard means of power delivery, and adjusting the appliances for height, tilt and protrusion relative to the cabinet requires tools.